P. J. Szule
14 Aug 2004, 11:55 PM
Our friend Artillero recently said in a reply post that too many of our fellow bigsoccer experts, ignorant of history, believe that “ … David Beckham invented the game or Freddy Adu is or will be the best player in the sport ever “.
Perhaps true as one looks past the recent onslaught of contemporary soccer: in just three months we will have put behind us the European Championships, Copa America, the Asia Cup, the ChampionsWorld tour of the US, the early starts of several Northern, Central and Eastern European seasons, European club tournament preliminaries not to mention the Athens Olympic tournament for both men and women. Naturally, one barely notices a Champion’s League third round qualifier between historic clubs Ferencvaros of Budapest and Sparta Prague.
In the 1930s games between these immensely popular Hungarian and Czechoslovak clubs represented some of the very best football Europe had to offer. Ferencvaros (also FTC and Fradi) was founded in 1899 and Sparta Prague (also A. C. Sparta and Praha) in 1893. If it is true that the twentieth century began in 1914 (and ended in 1989), these two clubs are then firmly rooted in the nineteenth century, in the golden age of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and in the turn-of-the-century blooming of the industrial age of the wondrous and vibrant cities of Prague and Budapest.
In fact, support for both clubs is entrenched in the industrial working and merchants classes of these capital cities and remain so today. Both Prague and Budapest had rival clubs to these two: Slavia Praha and MTK Budapest were both adored by the urban intelligentsia and by Jewish supporters. Slavia, founded in 1892, sophisticated, Anglophile and liberal in its origins is still around, tragically, its fan base has been decimated in the concentration camps of Nazi Europe. MTK Budapest is still a defining member of the Hungarian first division and the club’s Jewish affiliation remains notable.
In the aftermath of the Second World War and with the bolshevization of the captive nations, Prague saw the communist military funded Dukla, Budapest the similarly supported Honved club ascendant. Dukla is now defunct and Honved (team of Ferenc Puskas and other Magical Magyars) has faded to lower standards without subsidies of “central planning” and the club has revived its humble pre-Honved roots.
Fradi and Sparta’s first encounter was in the final of the 1935 Mitropa Cup (Central-European Cup), the forerunner of inter-nation club tournaments now nearly dominating the European game. Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Italy were the cream of (continental) Europe and were first to establish professional leagues on the continent. Games of the Mitropa Cup and the Easter Tournaments were passionately followed with then sellout crowds of 20 to 40 thousand spectators. The reciting of the names of these clubs and that of their legendary players are the very definition of a Europe of our historical consciousness: Rapid and Wacker, Bologna, Lazio and Genova, Viktoria Plzen, Slavia and Sparta Praha with Ujpest, Ferencvaros and MTK of the Magyars. And then: Matthias Sindelar, Dr. Pesek, Dr. Pelikan, Dr. Sarosi, Gyuri Orth, Geza Toldi, Vittorio Pozzo and Amadeo Biavati.
Fradi took the first game at Budapest 2:0 but then Sparta, in front of 30,000 in Prague and after several great Fradi chances that went without fruition, scored three times to take the Cup.
In the 1939 Mitropa Cup edition Sparta and Ferencvaros faced each other in the first round. Nothing but the elites in those days from first day on. Fradi, at home in the opening leg and after having gone up 2:0, conceded three goals and Prague fans anticipated just formalities in the return leg. After a goalless first half and led by Dr. Sarosi (also captain of Hungary, an attorney and one of the greats of the thirties), Ferencvaros scored twice and advanced. Yes, in those days, it was well worth taking the tram out to Prague’s Letna Stadion or to Pest’s Ulloi Street ground.
Sparta president dr. Pelikan and captain Burger were full of gracious compliments: “ [Ferencvaros] should already have been up in the first half” and, on dr. Sarosi, “we saw a quality of footballer never before seen at Sparta’s ground”. The Hungarians reciprocated in an unusual manner. Having hedged their bets on the outcome of this difficult first tie, they tentatively arranged a tour of Poland and Sweden (the Cup was a summer, post league championship affair) and, now facing the second round of Mitropa, donated the tour fixtures to Sparta. Fradi went on past Bologna (irrepressible forward Toldi scored all four of Fradi’s goals in the second leg) and faced Budapest rival Ujpest in an all-Magyar Mitropa Cup final. Ujpest, with superb forward Zsengeller and an excellent team altogether took the local home-and-away series and the Cup. Then, in just a little over one month, Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht invaded Poland.
The two clubs’ third cup encounter was in 1972, now in the Cup Winners’ version . Again first at Budapest, Fradi registered a 2:0 victory to be beaten at Prague (with a controversial penalty and a sending –off), 4:1.
The clubs’ parallels continued in the post-communist era. Government subsidies nearly vanished but both clubs survived the vagaries and uncertainties of privatization. They have however both reached the group stages of the Champion’s League, Fradi in 1995 (having done well in a group with Grasshoppers, Ajax and Real Madrid) and Sparta in 2000 grouped with Arsenal, Lazio and Shakhtar Donetsk. Cash infusions from these achievements were crucial for both clubs. Regrettably, both Fradi and Sparta “fans” proved that ex-eastern-block hooligans could match the racists and fascist antics of their western counterparts.
Czech football produced far superior players in the last 15 to 20 years than Hungary. Patrick Berger, Nedved, Poborsky, Milan Baros are just a few such stand-outs. Karel Poborsky alone has played for Benfica, Lazio and Manchester United and is now at 32 years of age the engine of Sparta. After last Wednesday’s first leg in Budapest, contemplating a 1:0 Ferenvaros win at the final whistle, he ripped his captain’s arm band and jersey off and hurriedly left the field without shaking hands with Lipcsei, Fradi’s captain and the referees. Either oversight is UEFA punishable indiscretion. European manners are not what they were in 1939 although, to his credit, coach Frantisek Straka apologized for his captain.
Hungarian soccer today is full of cautious optimism. Seeking to jump off from lower standards than the Czechs, the Hungarian public appears to be fully behind new national team manager Lothar Mattheus, new Ferencvaros boss Laszlo Csaba (a Mattheus colleague and Cologne Football Academy graduate) and they are proud in some of their best players having just joined English clubs. Sparta, now with solid ownership and first class management must be aiming to reach the same heights of European club soccer that the national team recently scaled.
Will Fradi survive the test on the 25th, as they did in 1939, at Letna ? That game was certainly a professional event for both clubs then, today, finance, personal career advancement are more at stake than club and national pride or the art of the game itself.
“Sparta do toho” and “Hajra Fradi” ! Other than an unlikely flight to Prague on the 25th for this Fradi fan, there will certainly be on-line nail biting at a Manhattan office desk.
Perhaps true as one looks past the recent onslaught of contemporary soccer: in just three months we will have put behind us the European Championships, Copa America, the Asia Cup, the ChampionsWorld tour of the US, the early starts of several Northern, Central and Eastern European seasons, European club tournament preliminaries not to mention the Athens Olympic tournament for both men and women. Naturally, one barely notices a Champion’s League third round qualifier between historic clubs Ferencvaros of Budapest and Sparta Prague.
In the 1930s games between these immensely popular Hungarian and Czechoslovak clubs represented some of the very best football Europe had to offer. Ferencvaros (also FTC and Fradi) was founded in 1899 and Sparta Prague (also A. C. Sparta and Praha) in 1893. If it is true that the twentieth century began in 1914 (and ended in 1989), these two clubs are then firmly rooted in the nineteenth century, in the golden age of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and in the turn-of-the-century blooming of the industrial age of the wondrous and vibrant cities of Prague and Budapest.
In fact, support for both clubs is entrenched in the industrial working and merchants classes of these capital cities and remain so today. Both Prague and Budapest had rival clubs to these two: Slavia Praha and MTK Budapest were both adored by the urban intelligentsia and by Jewish supporters. Slavia, founded in 1892, sophisticated, Anglophile and liberal in its origins is still around, tragically, its fan base has been decimated in the concentration camps of Nazi Europe. MTK Budapest is still a defining member of the Hungarian first division and the club’s Jewish affiliation remains notable.
In the aftermath of the Second World War and with the bolshevization of the captive nations, Prague saw the communist military funded Dukla, Budapest the similarly supported Honved club ascendant. Dukla is now defunct and Honved (team of Ferenc Puskas and other Magical Magyars) has faded to lower standards without subsidies of “central planning” and the club has revived its humble pre-Honved roots.
Fradi and Sparta’s first encounter was in the final of the 1935 Mitropa Cup (Central-European Cup), the forerunner of inter-nation club tournaments now nearly dominating the European game. Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Italy were the cream of (continental) Europe and were first to establish professional leagues on the continent. Games of the Mitropa Cup and the Easter Tournaments were passionately followed with then sellout crowds of 20 to 40 thousand spectators. The reciting of the names of these clubs and that of their legendary players are the very definition of a Europe of our historical consciousness: Rapid and Wacker, Bologna, Lazio and Genova, Viktoria Plzen, Slavia and Sparta Praha with Ujpest, Ferencvaros and MTK of the Magyars. And then: Matthias Sindelar, Dr. Pesek, Dr. Pelikan, Dr. Sarosi, Gyuri Orth, Geza Toldi, Vittorio Pozzo and Amadeo Biavati.
Fradi took the first game at Budapest 2:0 but then Sparta, in front of 30,000 in Prague and after several great Fradi chances that went without fruition, scored three times to take the Cup.
In the 1939 Mitropa Cup edition Sparta and Ferencvaros faced each other in the first round. Nothing but the elites in those days from first day on. Fradi, at home in the opening leg and after having gone up 2:0, conceded three goals and Prague fans anticipated just formalities in the return leg. After a goalless first half and led by Dr. Sarosi (also captain of Hungary, an attorney and one of the greats of the thirties), Ferencvaros scored twice and advanced. Yes, in those days, it was well worth taking the tram out to Prague’s Letna Stadion or to Pest’s Ulloi Street ground.
Sparta president dr. Pelikan and captain Burger were full of gracious compliments: “ [Ferencvaros] should already have been up in the first half” and, on dr. Sarosi, “we saw a quality of footballer never before seen at Sparta’s ground”. The Hungarians reciprocated in an unusual manner. Having hedged their bets on the outcome of this difficult first tie, they tentatively arranged a tour of Poland and Sweden (the Cup was a summer, post league championship affair) and, now facing the second round of Mitropa, donated the tour fixtures to Sparta. Fradi went on past Bologna (irrepressible forward Toldi scored all four of Fradi’s goals in the second leg) and faced Budapest rival Ujpest in an all-Magyar Mitropa Cup final. Ujpest, with superb forward Zsengeller and an excellent team altogether took the local home-and-away series and the Cup. Then, in just a little over one month, Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht invaded Poland.
The two clubs’ third cup encounter was in 1972, now in the Cup Winners’ version . Again first at Budapest, Fradi registered a 2:0 victory to be beaten at Prague (with a controversial penalty and a sending –off), 4:1.
The clubs’ parallels continued in the post-communist era. Government subsidies nearly vanished but both clubs survived the vagaries and uncertainties of privatization. They have however both reached the group stages of the Champion’s League, Fradi in 1995 (having done well in a group with Grasshoppers, Ajax and Real Madrid) and Sparta in 2000 grouped with Arsenal, Lazio and Shakhtar Donetsk. Cash infusions from these achievements were crucial for both clubs. Regrettably, both Fradi and Sparta “fans” proved that ex-eastern-block hooligans could match the racists and fascist antics of their western counterparts.
Czech football produced far superior players in the last 15 to 20 years than Hungary. Patrick Berger, Nedved, Poborsky, Milan Baros are just a few such stand-outs. Karel Poborsky alone has played for Benfica, Lazio and Manchester United and is now at 32 years of age the engine of Sparta. After last Wednesday’s first leg in Budapest, contemplating a 1:0 Ferenvaros win at the final whistle, he ripped his captain’s arm band and jersey off and hurriedly left the field without shaking hands with Lipcsei, Fradi’s captain and the referees. Either oversight is UEFA punishable indiscretion. European manners are not what they were in 1939 although, to his credit, coach Frantisek Straka apologized for his captain.
Hungarian soccer today is full of cautious optimism. Seeking to jump off from lower standards than the Czechs, the Hungarian public appears to be fully behind new national team manager Lothar Mattheus, new Ferencvaros boss Laszlo Csaba (a Mattheus colleague and Cologne Football Academy graduate) and they are proud in some of their best players having just joined English clubs. Sparta, now with solid ownership and first class management must be aiming to reach the same heights of European club soccer that the national team recently scaled.
Will Fradi survive the test on the 25th, as they did in 1939, at Letna ? That game was certainly a professional event for both clubs then, today, finance, personal career advancement are more at stake than club and national pride or the art of the game itself.
“Sparta do toho” and “Hajra Fradi” ! Other than an unlikely flight to Prague on the 25th for this Fradi fan, there will certainly be on-line nail biting at a Manhattan office desk.